Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c13448
Covalent chemistry coupled with activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) offers a versatile way to discover ligands for proteins in native biological systems. Here, we describe a set of stereo- and regiochemically defined spirocycle acrylamides and the analysis of these electrophilic “stereoprobes” in human cancer cells by cysteine-directed ABPP. Despite showing attenuated reactivity compared to structurally related azetidine acrylamide stereoprobes, the spirocycle acrylamides preferentially liganded specific cysteines on diverse protein classes. One compound termed ZL-12A promoted the degradation of the TFIIH helicase ERCC3. Interestingly, ZL-12A reacts with the same cysteine (C342) in ERCC3 as the natural product triptolide, which did not lead to ERCC3 degradation but instead causes collateral loss of RNA polymerases. ZL-12A and triptolide cross-antagonized one another’s protein degradation profiles. Finally, we provide evidence that the antihypertension drug spironolactone─previously found to promote ERCC3 degradation through an enigmatic mechanism─also reacts with ERCC3_C342. Our findings thus describe monofunctional degraders of ERCC3 and highlight how covalent ligands targeting the same cysteine can produce strikingly different functional outcomes.
